Carbon monoxide and hydrogen may be reacted over a suitable catalyst to produce hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds (such as aldehydes and alcohols) containing one or more carbon atoms. Perhaps the best known of such processes is the Fischer-Tropsch process which involves the catalytic hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to produce a variety of products ranging in size and functionality from methane to higher alcohols. The methanation reaction was first described by Sabatier and Senderens in 1902. The later work of Fischer and Tropsch dealing with higher hydrocarbons was described in Brenstoff - Chem. 7, 97 (1926).
The product stream of a Fischer-Tropsch reaction or hydrocarbon synthesis will in general comprise hydrocarbon wax and a condensate. This condensate will typically comprise water and such compounds as hydrocarbons, alcohols, and other oxygenates; water being the predominate component. The desired heavy hydrocarbon product generally can be separated by sedimentation from the remaining liquid phase or condensate. The separation is not necessarily complete, though, and often the condensate will have present in it some of the lower molecular weight hydrocarbons and oxygenates in the liquid phase. This contaminated condensate is of little or no commercial value. The oxygenates are known to cause corrosion while the hydrocarbons may cause foaming. Thus, the condensate is normally passed to a water treatment facility where it undergoes typical water treatment steps, such as anaerobic digestion and biological oxidation, in order to remove the contaminants from the clean water.
It is known in the art to recycle the original condensate from a hydrocarbon synthesis or alcohol synthesis to a process where that condensate can be used as a supplemental reactant in the feedgas, thereby enriching the feedgas. European Patent Application No. 168892 discloses the recycling of organic products of a Fischer-Tropsch, methanol or oxo synthesis as a supplement to the feedgas to a steam reforming reaction. The recycled products increase the product yield and thermal efficiency of the steam reforming reaction.
The need exists in the art for a process of stripping the organic compounds or contaminants from the recycled condensate to produce a purified water stream, thereby eliminating the need for the complex and expensive water treatment processing while at the same time producing a stream of oxygenates, steam, and other organic compounds for use as a reactant in a feedgas to some other process, particularly a synthesis gas generation process.